Dinky's Bedtime Story: The Battleaxe
Dinky’s Bedtime Story: The Battleaxe
Dinky had just finished getting into her jammies and headed to her mothers room for her bedtime story. As she entered the room she gave a slight pout as she heard the sound of the shower running, meaning she would have to wait a little longer. So she jumped up onto her mothers bed and took in the sight of the room. It was nothing new to Dinky, and she did love looking at the decorations her mother had collected over the course of time.
There was the family photo above the dresser, a painting of Canterlot from a distance on the mountain side as the sun was setting on another wall, and a jade and ivory statuette of a serpent like dragon on a shelf to name a few. Each had their own story to tell and Dinky loved hearing about them. Yet there was one piece Dinky had yet to hear the story behind due to how out of place it was. On the wall, hanging above the head of the bed was a worn out looking battleaxe.
Why her mother would have something like that puzzled little Dinky as she stared at it trying to figure out why her mother would put up an ax as a decoration. All of her mother’s other decorations had either an uplifting, cute, or funny story behind them. Yet she could not think of any stories her mother could tell that would be happy or funny that involved an ax and once again found herself asking herself if she should ask to hear about the story of the battleaxe or another story.
Dinky was so in thought about the ax that she hadn’t noticed that the shower had stopped.
“So you want to hear the story behind that old thing?” Derpy said sneaking up behind her daughter.
Dinky let out a surprised gasp as she turned to face her mother who was smiling down at her.
“Umm...” Dinky said unsure how to answer.
Dinky did want to hear the story behind the ax yet at the same time afraid the story might be scary or sad and give her nightmares. It was just so out of place for things her mother had up.
“It’s not a scary story if you're worried about that my little muffin” Derpy said sitting down on the bed next to Dinky.
Dinky looked up at her mother with hopeful eyes.
“Its not sad either?”
Derpy let out a small chuckle before laughing. “No it’s not sad either.”
Dinky was silent for a moment looking down at the bed before looking back up at her mother.
“Tell me the story behind the ax momma.”
“Ok my little muffin. It was back before I met your father and became just a local mailwoman. I had just turned sixteen and took a job as a courier, the kind that traveled between country.”
Dinky let out a loud gasp.
“You said this wasn’t going to be a scary story!” Dinky shouted.
“Let me finish darling, though the wilderness between nations is a scary place this story does not take place there.”
“You promise?”
“Promise. Now where was I.”
“So I had Just became a courier and my first package was to some rich man in the Griffin Kingdom. I don’t know what was in that box but I was also given that battleaxe right there. At first I thought it was also part of the package I was to deliver. As my boss handed the ax to me I dropped it as it is heavier than it looks and caught me off guard.”
“It doesn’t look that heavy” Dinky interrupted.
“Trust me, it is.”
“Anyway, I was struggling to keep the ax on my shoulders as I started to travel out of town. That is when I was met by some people that wanted the package I was carrying. Bad people hired by a rival of my client. They all had weapons of their own and were ready to use them to get the package.”
“Mom you said-”
Dinky was silenced as her mother brought a finger to her lips
“No more interrupting or I will not finish the story. Understand?”
Dinky gave a nod.
“OK. Now these people surrounded me and demanded that I give them the package I was carrying. Needless to say I was scared and was about to give it to them. I was so scared I was in tears even as I curled up as to protect myself. Then he came.”
“As I was curled up in a ball I heard the sound of fighting which scared me more so I curled up tighter. Soon the fighting was over, and I lifted my head up to look. All around me the bad people laid on the ground, knocked out. My savior, the man in the duster, was looking down at me while holding out his hand to help me get back up.”
Dinky was holding back the urge to shout out, “Daddy would be jealous.”
“I look his hand and stood up and learned that he didn’t save me out of the kindness of his heart. The next thing I knew the man had his hands on my chest.”
“WHAT!” Dinky shouted.
She may have been young but Dinky was old enough to know that that was a naughty and rude thing to do to a woman.
“That was my reaction too, I got so angry at him that it gave me a burst of strength and I swung that ax as hard as I could at him.”
“Did you hit him?” Dinky asked, fear started to fill her eyes at what it could mean.
“I did. But lucky for him it was only with the flat end of the ax. The hit knocked him down and he rolled a few times on the ground before stopping and I marched off leaving him to lay there.”
“After I delivered the package to the man in the Griffin Kingdom I learned the ax was actually meant for me as a means to protect myself in my travels. The reason they gave me the huge ax was because it was the only weapon the courier service had left at the time. I’ll admit it was hard using it at first but I soon built up some muscle to use it well. That why your momma is so strong.”
“Wow. That’s how you got so strong.”
“Yeap but the story doesn’t end there.”
“There's more?!” Dinky asked excitedly, eager to hear the rest.
“You see even after being able to swing the ax with ease I would end up running into things that were just too much to handle. It happened a lot too and each time the man in the duster would save me, grab my chest and I would knock him out in my anger. This went on for close to three, no, five years.”
“Then one day I saw him after delivering a package in the Draconic Empire. He walked up to me and asked a simple question, yet one that blew my mind. He asked me for a date. I was so taken back by the question that my mind went blank and my body took over. When I came too I had just finished swinging my ax and the man in the duster was laying on the ground...again.”
“It was different this time however. He didn’t do anything to warrant him getting hit this time and I felt so bad. So after helping him get up and awake I made it up by going out on the date with him. The date was horrible as he took me out to see a corny play and a dinner with horrible food. It was the end that was special though.”
“I was aggravated and ran off on him. I eventually made my way to a pond and just sat by the waters edge watching the moon reflect off the water. He had followed me and in a last ditch effort to win my heart started to sing, and boy he could sing.”
“It was after he was done singing when I asked him why? Why he saved me all those time? Why he followed me? What did he see in me? His answer was the typical ‘love at first sight speech’. He even had a little bit about how lovely my golden eyes are despite being wall-eyed.”
“Well your eyes are lovely mom… even if they always point two different directions.”
“Do you want me to finish this story?”
“Shuttin’ up.”
“I was about to walk away on him again. I wasn’t exactly looking for love at the time and till that night he was nothing more than a pervert to me. But that last line made me laugh, and had me thinking it could actually work. He said, ‘I wouldn't honk a woman that wasn’t as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.’”
“It got him another hit from the broadside of my ax that night along with me giving him a shot. We started traveling together as I went from city to city, nation to nation, delivering packages normal couriers wouldn’t do. Soon I began to love him, the man in the duster, as much as he loved me and we got married while in Zebrica after a delivery.”
“I later became pregnant with you and we decided settling down would be best for raising you and being a family. We decided that my hometown, Ponyville, would be the best. I started work as the town mail woman shortly after your birth to help support us. The ax has been on the wall since you were born.”
“Thats how you met dad!!!”
Derpy gave out a giggle, “yeap.”
“But what happened to dad? Why is he not here?”
Derpy closed her eyes and let out a sad sigh.
“That is a story for another time my little muffin. You're still too young. Now off to bed with you.”
“But.”
“But nothing. Off to bed. I’ll be in there to tuck you in soon.”
Dinky hopped off her mothers bed and reluctantly left wanting to hear more. Derpy looked at the family portrait thinking of how to tell “that” story when the time comes. How happy they were, back when he was just “the man in the duster”, and not “the lost prince”. A secret she never knew till it was too late. A secret that forced him to leave his family so they may live.
Author's Note
Point out any errors you see please and feedback would be nice.
This is one of the few One-Shots I plan on expanding on after October.
Also even though it's humanized I still use the MLP races as nationality in this universe setting. What race do you think the man in the duster belongs to?(if you say time lord i will cut you!!! I didn't even notice the connection to the 10th doctor till one of my pre-readers pointed it out to me.)
